Li Zicheng knew very well that among the major princes in Yanzhou, Cao Cao was his biggest enemy, so he decisively decided to help the alliance of Yanzhou princes.
Li Zicheng took the initiative to lend a helping hand at this time, which naturally made the Yanzhou princes alliance overjoyed. After all, they had been reduced to an unsustainable position by Cao Cao, so there was no reason to refuse. The two sides quickly finalized an alliance to jointly deal with the powerful forces.
of Cao Cao.
Since ancient times, Han thieves have been at odds with each other.
I think back then, the eighteen princes of the Han Dynasty worked hard and made countless sacrifices to finally drive all the Ming forces into the Sanshan Mountains. But now the princes of Yanzhou actually took the initiative to let Li Zicheng enter Yanzhou. Such behavior of luring a wolf into the house is nothing short of treason.
Cao Cao also did not expect that in order to deal with him, the princes of Yanzhou would join forces with the "upright" Li Zicheng, a "Ming thief". He was accidentally attacked by Li Zicheng, and not only did all twelve counties of Taishan County fall, but he also lost two or three people.
Ten thousand troops.
The Central Plains region had been occupied by the Ming Dynasty for many years. Under the governance of the Ming Dynasty, the people of the Central Plains lived a miserable life, but they still had hope in their hearts. Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty was defeated by the Han Dynasty in the end.
After the Central Plains was recaptured by the Han again, although the people's lives improved, they were not much better than before. This also made many people still yearn for the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
After Li Zicheng's army invaded Mount Tai, the people spontaneously gathered to support the Ming army.
Seeing that his army was so popular with the people, Li Zicheng became confident that he would win. So after taking over Taishan County, he moved out all the Canming troops who had been hiding in Taishan, a total of 500,000 soldiers and civilians, and then moved them to the Taishan Administrative Office.
When Gaoxian became king, he was called Chuangwang.
Li Zicheng also had a desire for self-reliance. Although he claimed to be king, he not only directly betrayed the Ming Dynasty, but still used the banner of the Ming Dynasty to gain the support of the people of Yanzhou.
After becoming king, Li Zicheng personally led an army of 50,000 troops and continued to attack Cao Cao's territory in Yanzhou under the slogan of "equalize land and avoid taxes".
The people of Yanzhou eagerly awaited the arrival of King Chuang, and sang folk songs such as "Open the city gate to welcome King Chuang. When King Chuang comes, he will not pay for food."
Originally, the strength of the Yanzhou princes' coalition was superior to Cao's army, but after several defeats, it was surpassed by Cao's army. With the addition of Li Zicheng's foreign army, it directly severely damaged Cao's army, which also made Cao's army in Yanzhou
Occupy is once again in a weak position.
Under the joint attack of the Yanzhou princes' coalition forces and the Chuang army, Cao's army, which had just suffered heavy losses, had to switch from offense to defense. However, the disparity in strength between the enemy and ours, coupled with the constant rebellion of the people under his command, caused the city that Cao's army defended to be in chaos before the battle.
Soon, Cao Jun retreated to Chenliu County and continued to shrink his defense line. If he continued to retreat like this, Cao Jun might really have to withdraw from Yingchuan County.
Cao Cao knew that there was a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves. It was too difficult for him to defeat the four major princes of Yanzhou and Li Zicheng's alliance. Only with the addition of external forces could he win quickly.
There are not many forces that Cao Cao can draw on, there are only three, Xuzhou Tao Qian, Yuzhou Yuan Shu, and Sizhou Qin Hao.
Tao Qian had too much to worry about. Even if he tried his best to defend and did not go out of the city to fight Zhu Yuanzhang, it would still be difficult to prevent the loss of the city and territory. Xuzhou has now been eaten up by Zhu Yuanzhang. Most of Xuzhou has been eaten away.
Yuan Shu is attacking Li Mi in order to unify Yuzhou, and although Li Mi is afraid of Yuan Shu's strength, he is not afraid of war. The two sides have their own winners and losers in the contest, and Yuan Shu has a greater chance of victory overall.
As for Sizhou Qin Hao, regardless of the personal relationship between the Qin and Cao families, as the Qin army captured Hangu Pass, although Sizhou had not yet been unified, the situation was already clear.
Therefore, only Qin Hao of Sizhou had the possibility of sending reinforcements, and Cao Cao sent Xun You as an envoy to ask for help.
Cao Cao's writing style is excellent, and the words in the letter asking for reinforcements seem to indicate that Cao Cao's army is in danger. If the Qin army does not send reinforcements, Cao Cao's army may not be able to hold on for long.
After Qin Hao read the letter asking for help in his hand, he smiled and asked Liu Bowen: "Military advisor, is the situation in Yanzhou really ruined to this point?"
Liu Bowen nodded and said: "After Cao Cao experienced a great defeat, the number of troops under his command has been reduced to 80,000. The coalition of Yanzhou princes has 70,000 troops, but Li Zicheng only dispatched 50,000 troops."
As he said that, Liu Bowen took out a piece of paper, glanced at it, and continued with a solemn expression: "But according to the intelligence from our military saucer, most people in the Central Plains are interested in Ming thieves, so Li Zicheng can quickly expand his army at any time.
Even if Li Zicheng is willing, he can expand his army by 200,000 at any time in a short period of time, and he has already recruited 50,000 new troops to stay in Taishan County."
"hiss……"
When everyone heard this, they all gasped, while Qin Hao chuckled and said, "Oh, there are so many." He looked like he didn't care.
Liu Ye stood up with a serious face and said: "My lord, with the military strength Cao Cao has, it is difficult for him to protect himself without external intervention, let alone defeat Li Zicheng and the princes of Yanzhou.
Once Li Zicheng completely captures Yanzhou, even if we have Hulao Pass on the eastern front of our county, it will be a great threat to our army."
"Is it difficult for Cao Cao to even protect himself?"
A strange color flashed in Qin Hao's eyes, and he smiled and said, "I can't see it.
The situation in Yanzhou seems to be unfavorable to Cao's army, but it is not at the end of its rope. Cao Cao cannot be underestimated, and he will not be defeated by Li Zicheng so easily.
Moreover, although the princes of Yanzhou have lured the wolf into the house this time, they will not let Li Zicheng grow bigger. Once Li Zicheng really grows to the extent that they are afraid of him, the princes of Yanzhou may turn against him and help Cao Cao in turn."
Liu Ye and Liu Bowen looked at each other. Neither of them expected that their lord would be so optimistic about Cao Cao, but what his lord said did make sense.
The battle situation in Yanzhou seems clear, but in fact it is extremely complicated, and there will never be a winner in the short term.
Yanzhou is close to Sizhou. Whether it is Cao Cao or Li Zicheng who unifies Yanzhou, it will be a threat to the Qin army and will definitely contain some of the Qin army's forces.
Therefore, for Qin Hao, who aims to unify the world, the best situation is to let Cao Jun and Chuang Jun fight endlessly. It is best to fight until Qin Hao unifies Hebei and there is no winner yet.
As soon as he thought of this, Qin Hao immediately summoned Cao Cao's envoy Xun You and politely declined: "Although the Qin and Cao families are on good terms, our army is also trapped in Sizhou and cannot extricate itself. Even its own affairs have not been resolved, so we really don't have the energy to divide our troops."
I'm going to help others, please forgive me."
When Xun You saw Qin Hao's refusal, he couldn't help but feel anxious and wanted to persuade him again, but Qin Hao didn't give him a chance to speak.
"Although I can't help Duke Cao in terms of military strength this time, I can give a batch of supplies and grain to Cao Jun for free. I hope Duke Cao can get through this difficulty as soon as possible."